DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have made the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine available as a booster shot to those initially immunized with a vaccine developed by the China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm).
The Gulf states, which have vaccinated large portions of their populations, initially started inoculating residents and citizens with the Sinopharm COVID-19 shot before later introducing other vaccines.
Bahrain is currently fighting its biggest wave of infections, while the UAE is recording nearly twice as many COVID-19 cases as it was seven months ago.
In Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital, a booster shot is available three months after the second shot had been administered, said a representative of Mubadala Health, part of the state fund.
A different vaccine can be provided as a booster shot but it is at the recipient’s discretion and health professionals do not make recommendations, the representative said.
Abu Dhabi has offered the Sinopharm shot to the general public since December and started using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in April. It has been offering third Sinopharm doses since at least last month after it was discovered the shot had not created enough antibodies for some recipients.
In Bahrain, a government representative similarly said those eligible could receive a booster dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Sinopharm vaccines regardless of which vaccine they had initially taken.
“The government is not recommending which booster shot is chosen,” they said.
Bahrain saw daily infections peak last month at around 3,000. The UAE is currently reporting around 2,000 cases a day, down from a February peak of 3,977 but about twice as many as it was reporting in early December.
There have been concerns about the efficacy of the Sinopharm vaccine, granted emergency approval by the World Health Organization (WHO) in May, due to limited published clinical data being available.
The Chinese vaccine is 78.1 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19, according to a study published last month in the JAMA medical journal.
However, researchers said the data from the study, conducted in countries including the UAE and Bahrain, was insufficient for the elderly and those with chronic diseases.
The Wall Street Journal on Thursday cited Bahrain’s undersecretary of health Waleed Khalifa Al Manea as saying the Sinopharm vaccine provided a high degree of protection.
However, those in Bahrain who are older than 50, are obese or have chronic illnesses were being urged to take a Pfizer booster shot six months after receiving their second Sinopharm dose, he told the paper.
UAE, Bahrain make Pfizer/BioNTech shot available to those who got Sinopharm vaccine
https://arab.news/8twuk
UAE, Bahrain make Pfizer/BioNTech shot available to those who got Sinopharm vaccine
- The Gulf states initially started inoculating residents and citizens with Sinopharm before later introducing other vaccines
- Bahrain currently fights its biggest wave of infections and UAE is recording nearly twice as many COVID-19 cases as it was seven months ago
‘Not your war’: Omani FM on US and Israel undermining ‘active and serious negotiations’
- On Friday, Albusaidi appeared on US news show “Face The Nation” and said a peace deal between Iran and the US was “within our reach”
LONDON: Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who was leading indirect negotiations between Iran and the US in Geneva this week, tweeted his dismay at the attacks on Tehran this morning by the US and Israel.
“I am dismayed. Active and serious negotiations have yet again been undermined. Neither the interests of the United States nor the cause of global peace are well served by this,” Albusaidi wrote. “And I pray for the innocents who will suffer. I urge the United States not to get sucked in further. This is not your war.”
On Friday, Albusaidi appeared on US news show “Face The Nation” and said a peace deal between Iran and the US was “within our reach.” He also said, “I don’t think any alternative to diplomacy is going to solve this problem.”
An agreement to irreversibly halt nuclear stockpiling and enrichment was reached, according to Abdusaidi — a feat never before achieved, and one of US President Donald Trump’s most important demands.
“Iran will never, ever have a nuclear material that will create a bomb. This is, I think, a big achievement. This is something that is not in the old deal that was negotiated during President Obama’s time,” the foreign minister said.
“They will not be able to actually accumulate the material that would enable them to create a bomb … So there would be zero accumulation, zero stockpiling and full verification.”
Early on Saturday, the US and Israel launched coordinated military strikes against multiple targets inside Iran, marking a dramatic escalation in Middle East tensions. The operation — described by US officials as “major combat operations” — involved air and missile strikes on key Iranian military and government infrastructure, including areas in and around Tehran.
Trump framed the action as an effort to degrade Iran’s missile and nuclear capabilities and to remove what he described as “an imminent threat” to regional and global security.
